Marseille conceded a penalty and finished with nine men as their poor Ligue 1 run of form continued on Sunday with a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Evian Thonon Gaillard.

Andre-Pierre Gignac put the visitors in front with a superb half-volley in the 50th minute but Yannick Sagbo levelled for the hosts from the penalty spot nine minutes later following right back Kassim Abdallah's dismissal for a foul on Saber Khlifa.

Marseille, who had Joey Barton dismissed when they lost at home to bottom club Nancy last weekend, were reduced to nine men after Jordan Ayew picked up two bookings in two minutes, seconds after replacing Mathieu Valbuena.

Marseille stay third on 43 points from 24 games, eight adrift of leaders Paris St Germain, who defeated Bastia 3-1 on Friday, and are three points ahead of St Etienne in fourth and Stade Rennes, who climbed to fifth with a 2-0 home win over Toulouse.

"When you already received a yellow card, you have to take care and behave," Marseille coach Elie Baup told French channel beIN Sport, criticising Ayew who earned his second card for a rough challenge on Pavel Ninkovic.

"We never said we were fighting for the title. Our goal remains fifth place albeit our good results until the winter break had given us hope of a top-three finish," Baup said following Marseille's poor recent form.

Evian climbed to 17th on 23 points, level with 18th-placed Sochaux in the 20-club table.